Attending a classic motoring event of the magnitude of Australia's Motorclassica is a delight of serendipitous automotive discovery. Each year there are a few hundred new and interesting stories to discover in the magnificent Royal Exhibition Building, which was created for the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880 and is the first building in Australia to be granted the status of a World Heritage Site.

Every car has a story and most cars on display at Motorclassica have a full history available, if you just ask the person standing nearest to the car.

The automobile has been a key tool in overcoming Australia's "Tyranny of Distance" and has been deeply entwined with Australian culture for 120 years. The depth of knowledge of the custodians is extraordinary and the show floor atmosphere feels more like a family gathering than a car show.

As usual, there were many wondrous facets to Motorclassica this year, with the customary Tour Classica run around the Melbourne central business district on the Thursday prior, tribute classes to the Targa Florio, the decadent designs of the Art Deco period, a look back at Cadillac's range over the last 116 years, and the Last Days of the American Supercar. The Figoni et Falaschi Delage D6/70S above was one of the stand-outs in the Art Deco class at Motorclassica this year.

There were also several new and very popular elements introduced. One was "Motorclassica at the Movies," which screened and celebrated cinema's greatest car chases with a tribute to the heist films of the 21st century: Gone in 60 seconds (2000), Fast & Furious 5 (2011), Baby Driver (2017), The Fast and the Furious (2009) and Need for Speed (2014). All of the marquee classic car events around the world have directors with vision and an astute finger on the pulse of the growing tribal group of classic car aficionados, and Motorclassica is following in the footsteps of other events, such as Amelia Island, that have risen to global status due to the inventiveness and foresight of their curators.

Live Restoration Theatre

Melbourne in particular and Australia in general has become quite a hotbed for automotive restoration and Motorclassica's most interesting new feature was the Live Restoration Theatre. This showcase of ancient and modern skills and technologies in practice allowed showgoers to witness the machinations of the restoration of a car, from barn find to concours entrant.

The premise behind the theatre were elucidated thus by the organizers, Greg Maskells Customs & Classics, and internationally respected restorer, Brian Tanti: There have been many changes and developments in technology since the first Model T rolled off the production line at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan. As a result, not only Australia but the World is slowly losing the skills that were once required to maintain and keep vintage and veteran cars and motorcycles moving. No longer do smash repairers roll panels on an English wheel, instead ordering replacements through OEMs. Neither do they hand paint bodies with horsehair brushes and heated paint. Nevertheless, these ancient skills and many more are still required if we are to keep our national fleet of automotive treasures on the road.

For me, there were three stand-out aspects to the show this year, being the Micro Cars display, the celebration of the Cadillac marque and a marvelous retrospective of 90 years of the Australian Grand Prix.

90 Years of the Australian Grand Prix

The Australian Grand Prix has been held in 20 different venues during its 90 year history, and the above image shows the start of the Grand Prix at Albert Park 60 years apart.

In 1985, the Australian Grand Prix became a round of the World Formula One Championship, but looking back prior to world championship status was the theme of the weekend and some of the many famous cars that have started in the event provided a 90 year retrospective which was fascinating. Winners of the Australian Grand Prix across the years include Sir Stirling Moss (1956), Jack Brabham (1955, 1963 and 1964), Bruce McLaren (1962 and 1965), Graham Hill (1966), Jackie Stewart (1967), Jim Clark (1968), Alan Jones (1980) and Alain Prost (1982).

The first recognized Australian Grand Prix was a 100-mile road race at Phillip Island in 1928, on the same track which now holds the Australian round of the World MotoGP championships, Arthur Waite won in his supercharged Austin 7 accepting £20 for his efforts. The astonishing image above showing Waite at speed just a few meters from the crowd was taken during the 1928 race on the main straight of Phillip Island – motorsport safety has come a long way in 90 years.

Colonel Waite was hospitalized during the Australian assault on Gallipoli, the campaign upon which Australia's ANZAC brotherhood with New Zealand was forged. It was there Waite met his future wife Irene, who was serving as a nurse. Irene turned out to be the daughter of the founder of the Austin Motor Company, and Waite was accepted into the Austin family in very public fashion in 1915. Waite had subsequently returned to Australia to set up the distribution of Austin cars after racing successfully in events across Europe, and though his racing Austin was in England still, the car sent for this important race was more than up to the task.

The car above is a recreation of the original winning car, with the original supercharged engine and gearbox. You need to stand next to it to understand how diminutive this car is, being not much bigger than the Peugeot Bebe that was the highlight of the microcar display.

Micro Cars: Lessons from automotive history

The Micro Car display might well have been entitled "lessons from history" as it illustrated the kind of energy efficient personal transport that's at the forefront of modern automobile design. While they may be unconventional, the Micro Car offers far more than just spartan convenience.

The Bebe is one of the first Micro Cars, and could be purchased prior to WW1 with either a 652 cc single-cylinder four-stroke engine or an 855 cc four. It became one of Europe's top selling cars in 1913, but when you see it in the flesh, you'll be shocked at how impossibly small it is. The design was one of many Ettore Bugatti masterpieces, and bears many similarities to the Bugatti Type 13 racer which finished second at the 1911 French Grand Prix. The Bebe was manufactured by Peugeot under license from Bugatti.

Economy and practicality were the hallmarks of the Bebe and as the Wikipedia entry for the Peugeot Bebe points out: Advertising promoted its qualities as an economy product, in one case highlighting the comparison with more conventional transport in the case of a rural doctor, needing to cover approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) per day, for whom a Bébé would replace a team of two horses, while costing no more than one of them.

Prior to WW2, owning a car was not something the average person could afford in countries struggling under the devastation of war. Immediate post-war Europe needed low-cost transport. In the immediate post WW2 years, America produced more than 90 percent of the world's cars while Europe lay in ruins in desperate need of transportation. Europe answer in general, and Germany's in particular, was in the form of the micro car, with simple engines, light weight, and reliable modest performance.

As a side note, students of history will note that Heinkel had begun WW2 as the most advanced aircraft company in the world, with the first liquid-fueled rocket and first turbojet-powered aircraft in aviation history to its credit. Heinkel's light and heavy bombers became the mainstay of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe), while the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the most feared of the Luftwaffe's fighter aircraft.

These cars embody the similar tenets of lightweight, low-cost construction and energy efficiency as the machines that seem certain to populate the roads of the 21st century. Most of these cars weigh in under 300 kg (660 lb) at the kerb and have small capacity engines, with the Messerschmitt KR200 running a 190cm3 two-stroke engine, the Heinkel Kabine a 200cm3 single four-stroke, the Lightburn Zeta a 324cm3 two-stroke and the Goggomobile Dart came in 250cm3 to 400cm3 two-stroke capacities.

The black sheep of the family

The Morris J-Type Owners Club is a regular at Motorclassica, drawing members from across Australia for the annual pilgrimage. These commercial vans were the first practical urban delivery vans available in the British Commonwealth, and were a common sight on English and Australian roads in the 1950s, winning a die-hard following across the world for their frugality and reliability that has endured to this day.

Always one of Matchbox toys most popular models, the J-type is synonymous with a decade where the country was growing quickly as it emerged from war.

They're a particularly friendly bunch, and there's always someone from the club available for a chat. Because they all know each other, and the history of each other's vans, you can always get the rundown on anything you haven't seen before.

This proved useful when I spied what I suspect is the black sheep of the family. Instead of the 1500cc four the Morris sported as standard, the van shown above runs a very lumpy and muscular 350 Chevrolet V8. It was driven 1000 km from Sydney carrying a motorcycle sidecar outfit. We suspect that the trip was a warm one for the driver and passenger, who had the engine between them. The driver has apparently been known to wear ear muffs.

Bargain basement Ford GT40 re-creations

One of the most famous cars in history is the Ford GT40 which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four years running, beginning with a 1-2-3 finish in 1966 then following up with wins in 1967, 1968 and 1969. Between the Mk I, Mk II, Mk III and Mk IV GT40s, just 105 of the original cars were produced, and they sell for between US$5 million and $10 million whenever they reach auction these days.

Melbourne company RF GT40 has been producing GT40 replicas for 24 years now, and offers the GT40 in construction modules that recreate the shape, feel and specification of the original vehicle. Each module is very reasonably priced, and the aim is to offer a kit that enables an enthusiast to build their very own road going supercar, though an entire car can be purchased for around AUD$165,000 (US$117,400).

Not surprisingly, with the Australian dollar so competitive against the US dollar, the company is finding it is now sending an increasing proportion of GT40 cars and modules overseas these days.

Carroll Shelby's first competitive racing car

Small British car manufacturer Allard had considerable success in the early 1950s with its J2 and J2X models, using superbly hand-crafted lightweight aluminum construction in conjunction with a big bore American V8 engine of the buyer's choice. In England, the cars were assembled whole using either Ford or Mercury flathead V8s, while for the American market, the cars were shipped from England without engine, most commonly configured for the 5.4 liter (331 ci) Cadillac V8. In this configuration, the car weighed in at around 940 kg (2072 lb), and a J2 driven by Tom Cole and Sydney Allard finished third in the 1951 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Apart from the car that took a podium at Le Mans, this Allard is the best known of the approximately 1900 cars produced (90 J2s and 83 J2X among them), as it was purchased by Texan oil millionaire Roy Cherryhomes, who put a promising young driver (and chicken farmer) named Carroll Shelby behind the wheel for local events.

Shelby drove it in five SCCA races in 1952 for four wins and a second place, before finishing tenth in the 1953 international 1000 km race in Buenos Aires behind the powerful factory teams. Shelby's speed in this car caught the eye of Aston Martin which gave him a factory drive in 1954, kickstarting a racing career which ultimately led to Shelby producing his own cars and becoming a household name globally.

Shelby made no secret that his experiences in this car had helped him find the ideal AC Cobra recipe of a lightweight British chassis combined with an American V8. Hence this particular car can be seen as a landmark vehicle in the history of sports cars, as it inspired one of the most famous automotive marques in history.

As previously mentioned, there are quite literally hundreds of automotive stories at the show, and we've summarized many of these stories in our Motorclassica photo gallery captions, as well as provided a quick look at the winners from the show below.

Once more, well done Motorclassica.

Class winners

Best In Show

The winner of the Best in Show award was this 1932 Alfa Romeo 6C Spider owned by Lawrence Southward. The 86-year-old Alfa would have been is powered by a supercharged 1,762cc in-line six, and wears aluminum bodywork by Zagato and would have been the absolute height of fashion in its day.

The car was purchased new in 1932 by English jazz saxophonist Buddy Featherstonehaugh, who was touring the United Kingdom as part of the Billy Mason Band, backing jazz superstar Louis Armstrong that year. Featherstonehaugh was at the pinnacle of his craft. One can imagine the impression such a car would have created in the United Kingdom's major cities as the celebrity band rolled into town.

Featherstonehaugh was also an occasional car racer, who two years later won the 1934 Albi Grand Prix in a Maserati 26M, so he was clearly no slouch behind the wheel.

The Alfa
lived in the UK for most of its life, before being purchased and taken to New Zealand, where a restoration was undertaken over 16 years, being finished this year.

People's Choice

The People's Choice award went to a pristine specimen of one of Australia's great home-grown muscle cars, the 1969 Holden Monaro GTS of Sam Santoro. This car also won the Modern Classic USA & Australian category.

Restoration of the Year

The restoration of the year was awarded to a 1969 Maserati Ghibli Spyder restored by Recreation Automotive. There are many fine automotive restoration services available in Australasia, with this award going to companies in South Australia (2014) and Tasmania (2015), prior to Victoria's Recreation Automotive winning it three years in a row from 2016-2018. Owned by Barry Edge, the Maserati Ghibli also won the Modern Classic Sports & Performance category for cars of more than three liter capacity.

Last Days Of American Supercar

Micro Cars - The Practical Runabout

Only 2000 of Louis Delage's four-liter straight eight D8 cars were produced, of which just 99 were of the more potent D8S variety, and of those, just 42 are believed to have survived. This car was shipped new to Melbourne in 1931, where it was bodied by local coachbuilder Martin & King. It was dismantled in the 1960s with a view to a complete restoration, but was onsold through several owners over several decades as a basket-case before the current owner had the car completely rebuilt. (Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The 1932 Delage D8S restoration was done by <a href="http://www.historicvintagerestorations.com/" rel="nofollow">Historic & Vintage Restorations</a>, with a new body crafted by Vince Panozzo of the <a href="http://www.aceauto.com.au/" rel="nofollow">Kangan Institute’s Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE)</a> in Melbourne. The body is a copy of an original one-off in-house Delage design. Many images can be found of the car's history and restoration in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/HVR.Australia/photos/?tab=album&album_id=450819654939411" rel="nofollow">this HVR Facebook gallery</a>.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

This Alfa Romeo 6c 2300 MM Spider Alfa Romeo 6c 2300 MM in the style of the Sports Racing 8C 2900 design of Touring of Milan. The Spider began when a chassis and drivetrain were sourced from Europe, and the rest was fabricated. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/HVR.Australia/photos/?tab=album&album_id=551208884900487" rel="nofollow">The entire story can be found on the Historic and Vintage Restorations facebook page.</a>(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

This Alfa Romeo 6c 2300 MM Spider Alfa Romeo 6c 2300 MM in the style of the Sports Racing 8C 2900 design of Touring of Milan. The Spider began when a chassis and drivetrain were sourced from Europe, and the rest was fabricated. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/HVR.Australia/photos/?tab=album&album_id=551208884900487" rel="nofollow">The entire story can be found on the Historic and Vintage Restorations facebook page.</a>(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

This Alfa Romeo 6c 2300 MM Spider Alfa Romeo 6c 2300 MM is actually in the style of the Sports Racing 8C 2900 design of Touring of Milan. The Spider began when a chassis and drivetrain were sourced from Europe, and the rest was fabricated. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/HVR.Australia/photos/?tab=album&album_id=551208884900487" rel="nofollow">The entire story can be found on the Historic and Vintage Restorations facebook page.</a>(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

This Delage D6/70S recreation was one of the stand-outs on the floor at Motorclassica this year. The six-cylinder Delage D6 was bodied by many automotive couturiers, but none quite as boldly as some of the creations of Paris-based Figoni et Falaschi. In 1936, a D6 was prepared for the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a lightweight Figoni et Falaschi body, but a general strike caused the event to be cancelled. The car was lost during WW2, and this car was built by <a href="http://www.coachbuilders.com.au/index.htm" rel="nofollow">Artisan Coachworks</a>.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

Built in Melbourne by <a href="http://www.coachbuilders.com.au/index.htm" rel="nofollow">Artisan Coachworks</a> on a rolling chassis purchased in Europe, this <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figoni_et_Falaschi" rel="nofollow">Figoni et Falaschi</a> Delage D6/70S was built using photographs of the original car by Jeff Edwards. "I've developed my own proprietary method of accurately reproducing entire bodies from photographs," Edwards told New Atlas. Close inspection of the car was breathtaking, but to really appreciate the flowing lines of Giuseppe Figoni's aerodynamic art deco shape, you needed to go one floor up. One of the many wonderful aspects of the Melbourne Exhibition building is that the key exhibits can be examined from all angles.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

Whilst Motorclassica's Live Restoration Theatre was designed to stimulate interest in the art of coachbuilding, Australia's long-standing automotive manufacturing industry, which effectively stopped making new cars just recently, has created a network of coachbuilders that is second to none. With the Australian dollar offering a 30 percent discount on this artisan craft to overseas clients, a lot ofAustralian coachbuilding is now destined for distant shores.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

Carroll Shelby drove this Allard in five SCCA races in 1952, for four wins and a second place, before finishing tenth in the 1953 international 1000 km race in Buenos Aires behind the powerful factory teams. Shelby’s speed in this car caught the eye of Aston Martin which gave Shelby a factory drive in 1954, kickstarting a racing career which ultimately led to Shelby producing his own cars and becoming a household name globally.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

Shelby made no secret that his experiences in this car had helped him find the ideal AC Cobra recipe of a lightweight British chassis combined with an American V8. Hence this particular car can be seen as a landmark vehicle in the history of sports cars, as it inspired one of the most famous automotive marques in history.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

Small British car manufacturer Allard had considerable success in the early 1950s with its J2 and J2X models, using superbly hand-crafted lightweight aluminum construction in conjunction with a big bore American V8 engine of the buyer's choice. In England, the cars were assembled whole using either Ford or Mercury flathead V8s, while for the American market, the cars were shipped from England without engine, most commonly configured for the 5.4 liter (331 ci) Cadillac V8. In this configuration, the car weighed in at around 940 kg, and a J2 driven by Tom Cole and Sydney Allard finished third in the 1951 24 Hours of Le Mans.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

Apart from the car which took a podium at Le Mans, this Allard is the best known of the approximately 1900 cars produced (90 J2s and 83 J2X among them), as it was purchased by Texan oil millionaire Roy Cherryhomes, who put a promising young driver (and chicken farmer) named Carroll Shelby behind the wheel for local events.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

This 1908 Cadillac S was a "barn find", originally restored in the United States, and subsequently further restored in Australia. The quality of the final exhibit, which apparently drives as well as it looks, was not lost on New Atlas' Editor-in-chief Noel McKeegan (pictured), who spent 15 minutes crawling all over the car admiring the 110-year-old rolling sculpture.(Credit: Mike Hanlon / New Atlas)

1908 was the year Cadillac won the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewar_Trophy" rel="nofollow">Dewar Trophy</a> for "the motor car which should successfully complete the most meritorious performance or test furthering the interests and advancement of the [automobile] industry." The 1908 Dewar Trophy was won by Cadillac for its parts interchangeability. In 1912, Cadillac won the trophy again, when it introduced the first automobile with an electrical system enabling starting, ignition, and lighting.Quite clearly, this Cadillac S was built prior to the electric lighting system.<sup></sup>(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The Cadillac name was just five years old at the time this car was made, and the term horseless carriage was still the buzzword of the day. All Cadillacs to this point in time were powered by the "Little Hercules" single-cylinder engine, which had a square bore and stroke of five inches, giving it a 98.2 cu in (1,609 cc) capacity. That's the copper water-jacket on the big cast iron cylinder pictured, pointing backward.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

In restoring this 1925 Vauxhall to its original form, owner Robert Lovell used the original panels and guards as patterns for the new bodywork, using "old" welding techniques of using oxy acetylene and parent metal as filler rods to achieve invisible joins in the metal, then polishing it to the state that can be witnessed in the car on display.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

This 1925 Vauxhall 23-60 tourer has spent most of its 93 years in Western Australia, being purchased in 1991 in Perth and transported to Lismore in New South Wales where it underwent a 26 year restoration. The car was capable of being driven when it was purchased, but had been "chopped" into a utility vehicle, which was standard practice in Australia during WW2, as "utes" were considered working vehicles, and hence could obtain extra petrol rations.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

We suspect is the black sheep of the Morris J-Type Owners Club family. Instead of the 1500cc four the Morris sported as standard, this van runs a very lumpy and muscular 350 Chevrolet V8. The van was driven from Sydney (1000 km), carrying a motorcycle sidecar outfit. We suspect that the trip was a warm one for the driver and passenger, who had the engine between them. The driver has apparently been known to wear ear muffs.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The original toolkit of the Vauxhall was also on display. They don't make 'em like that any more.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The Morris J-Type Owners Club is a regular at Motorclassica, drawing members from across Australia for the annual pilgrimage. These commercial vans were the first practical urban delivery vans available in the British Commonwealth, and were a common sight on English and Australian roads in the 1950s, winning a die-hard following across the world for their frugality and reliability that has endured to this day.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The winner of the Chief Judge's Spirit Of Motorclassica Award at Motorclassica 2018, was this 1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint Speciale.(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Best in Show award was this 1963 Alfa Romeo 6C Spider owned by Lawrence Southward(Credit: Motorclassica)

One of the many special celebrations at Motorclassica this year was the 70th anniversary of the Harley-Davidson Panhead engine, featuring a timeline of these historic machines from 1948 through 1965. (Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Pre-War Racing Cars category went to the 1937 Maserati 6CM of Tom Roberts.(Credit: Motorclassica)

The People's Choice award went to a pristine specimen of one of Australia's great home-grown muscle cars, the 1969 Holden Monaro GTS of Sam Santoro. This car also won the Modern Classic USA & Australian category.(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Vintage & Veteran Category was this 1924 Cadillac V-63 Tourer owned by Scott Emmerson(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Racing Cars Post War category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1957 Lotus 12 of Mike Bennett(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Preservation Cars Pre 1950 category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1924 Minerva AB Tourer of Greg Mackie(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Preservation Cars Post 1950 category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1974 Ferrari Daytona Coupe of Greg La Manna(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Modern Classic GT U.K. & European category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1961 Jaguar E-Type of Gavin King(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Pre-War USA category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1929 Stutz Black Hawk L6 of Trevor Hudson(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Post War Classic Open category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1959 Goggomobile Dart Convertible of Mark & Michelle Jansen(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Motorcycles Preservation category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1972 Triumph X-75 Hurricane of Jordan Roddy(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Post War Classic Closed category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1958 BMW Isetta Micro Coupe of Tony Nassar(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Motorcycles Post 1955 category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1959 Triumph 650 Bonneville of Jon Munn(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Motorcycles Pre 1955 category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1954 BSA A7 SS Daytona of Thomas Weitacher(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Modern Classic Sports & Performance Under 3 Litre category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1967 Porsche 911S of Bram Williams(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Modern Classic category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1963 Jaguar Mk2 of David Lamont(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the 'Last Days Of American Supercar' category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1963 Ford Galaxie R.Code Fastback of Barry Hodson(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Micro Car category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1957 BMW Isetta 300 Coupe of Alvin Chua(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the Art Deco category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1937 Cord Custom Berlin Coupe of Terry Dowel(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the 'Tribute To Cadillac' category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1959 Cadillac Convertible of Australian football champion and media personality Sam Newman.(Credit: Motorclassica)

The winner of the 90 Years of the Australian Grand Prix class was this 1963 Brabham BT7A owned by Peter Harburg(Credit: Motorclassica)

The Peugeot Bebe became one of Europe's top selling cars in 1913, but when you see it in the flesh, you'll be shocked at how impossibly small it is. (Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The sports version of the Lightburn Zeta was quite a little rocketship, weighing in at just 400 kg with the fibreglass body lacking doors and bumper bars to save weight, and was propelled by a 500cc two-stroke twin producing 21 hp. Unfortunately for the Lightburn, the arrival of the BMC Mini offering far greater facility for a similar price and just 28 of these cars were built, this being one of the last. Remarkably, an electric version was on the drawing boards, but was abandoned when the total sales of the Lightburn range amounted to just 363 units and the company went back to making other commercial products.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The Peugeot Bebe was one of many Ettore Bugatti masterpieces, and bears many similarities to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Type_13" rel="nofollow">Bugatti Type 13 racer</a> which finished second at the 1911 French Grand Prix.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The Peugeot Bebe was manufactured by Peugeot under license from Ettore Bugatti.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The first recognised Australian Grand Prix was a 100-mile road race at Phillip Island in 1928, on the same track which now holds the Australian round of the World MotoGP championships, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Waite_(racing_driver)" rel="nofollow">Arthur Waite</a> won in his supercharged Austin 7 accepting AU£20 for his efforts. The astonishing image above showing Waite at speed just a few metres from the crowd was taken during the 1928 race on the main straight of Phillip Island - motorsport safety has come a long way in 90 years.(Credit: Australian Grand Prix Corporation)

The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Grand_Prix" rel="nofollow">Australian Grand Prix</a> has been held in 20 different venues during its 90 year history, and the above images show the start of the Grand Prix at Albert Park 60 years apart. Indeed, the Maybach (#2) pictured in the center of the front row (flanked by the #3 HWM of Lex Davison and Talbot Lago of Doug Whiteford), is Stan Jones, father of Alan Jones who would go on to become World Formula One Champion.(Credit: Australian Grand Prix Corporation)

The restoration of the year was awarded to a 1969 Maserati Ghibli Spyder that had been restored by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Re.creationAutomotive/" rel="nofollow">Recreation Automotive</a>. There are many fine automotive restoration services available in Australasia, with this award going to companies in South Australia (2014) and Tasmania (2015), prior to Victoria's Recreation Automotive winning it three years in a row in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Owned by Barry Edge, the Maserati Ghibli also won the Modern Classic Sports & Performance category for cars of more than three litre capacity.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The 1928 Austin 7 pictured is a recreation of the winning car of the 1928 Australian Grand Prix, built on the original supercharged drivetrain. You need to stand next to it to understand how diminutive this car is, being not much bigger than the Peugeot Bebe which was the highlight of the microcar display.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

In 1985, the Australian Grand Prix became a round of the World Formula One Championship, but looking back prior to world championship status was the theme of the weekend and some of the many famous cars which have started the event provided a 90 year retrospective which was fascinating.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

Many famous cars that had competed in the Australian Grand Prix were on display at Motorclassica 2018.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The winner of the 90 Years of the Australian Grand Prix class was this 1963 Brabham BT7A owned by Peter Harburg(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The winner of the 90 Years of the Australian Grand Prix class was this 1963 Brabham BT7A owned by Peter Harburg(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The winner of the 'Tribute To Cadillac' category at Motorclassica 2018 was the 1959 Cadillac Convertible of Australian football champion and media personality Sam Newman.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The last days of the American muscle car display was one of the many highlights of Motorclassica 2018.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The premise behind Motorclassica's Live Restoration Theatre was elucidated thus by the organisers, Greg Maskells Customs & Classics, and internationally respected restorer, Brian Tanti: <em>There have been many changes and developments in technology since the first Model T rolled off the production line at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan. As a result, not only Australia but the World is slowly losing the skills that were once required to maintain and keep vintage and veteran cars and motorcycles moving. No longer do smash repairers roll panels on an English wheel, instead ordering replacements through OEMs. Neither do they hand paint bodies with horsehair brushes and heated paint. Nevertheless, these ancient skills and many more are still required if we are to keep our national fleet of automotive treasures on the road.</em>
<em></em>(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

Motorclassica's most interesting new feature was the Live Restoration Theatre, a showcase of ancient and modern skills and technologies in practice where showgoers could witness the machinations of the restoration of a car from barn find to concours entrant.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

Melbourne company <a href="https://www.roaringforties.com.au/" rel="nofollow">Roaring Forties</a> has been producing GT40 replicas for 24 years now, and offers the GT40 in construction modules that recreate the shape, feel and specification of the original vehicle. Each module is very reasonably priced, and the aim is to offer a kit which enables an enthusiast to build their very own roadgoing supercar, though an entire car can be purchased for around AUD$165,000 (US$117,400). Not surprisingly, with the Australian dollar so weak against the US dollar and Euro, the company is finding it is now sending an increasing proportion of GT40 cars and modules overseas.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The last days of the American muscle car display was one of the many highlights of Motorclassica 2018.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The last days of the American muscle car display was one of the many highlights of Motorclassica 2018.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

A modern automotive masterpiece in the form of the McLaren Senna also made an appearance at Motorclassica 2018(Credit: Noel McKeegan/New Atlas)

This is the very last Velocette MSS 500 ever built. Just six were built during 1970 before Velocette closed down, and this was the very last of the six. The bike was on sale at vintage motorcycle dealer <a href="http://www.classicstyle.com.au/" rel="nofollow">ClassicStyle</a>(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The Jaguar XJ13 was a prototype mid-engined V12 racing car developed to compete at Le Mans in the 1960s. Only one was produced, it was never raced, and the project was shelved when Ford's 7 litre GT40 arrived on the scene and took all before it. An offer of GBP£7 million (US$11.2 million) for the car was declined in 1996, and the original resides now in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Motor_Museum" rel="nofollow">British Motor Museum</a> in Gaydon, UK. At least half a dozen replicas have been built of the car, with this one claimed to be the best of the bunch ... and it's for sale.(Credit: Noel McKeegan / New Atlas)

The XJ13 replica is for sale through Queensland classic car dealer <a href="http://cars.johnconroy.com.au/view.php/all_stock/1986_Jaguar_XJ13R_British_Racing_Green_5_Speed_Manual_Roadster/13163452/" rel="nofollow">John Conroy</a>, and was exhibited at Motorclassica 2018. The sale description states that the engine alone cost over $200,000.